We’ve all seen the attempts at helping reduce waste at the hotel chains. At the Marriott, they have a nice placard explaining how much water is wasted due to laundry and politely ask customers to re-use towels by hanging them up.
A few fellow roadwarriors have noticed Starwood’s spin on green when they received a door tag on their desk with the following:
“You have the option to decline housekeeping service for the day. For helping us conserve natural resources, we are happy to offer you a $5 gift card for use at participating food and beverage outlets within our hotel or 500 SPG Starpoints redeemable at checkout”
At the W in San Francisco they are offering to purchase $5 worth of carbon credits for each day you forgo the housekeeping. Gift cards, carbon credits, and points are great incentives. More hotel chains should take note and offer something similar.
Seth Godin makes a great point in a recent blog post titled, “We don’t compare ourselves to other airport restaurants”, but his quote, “Regardless, it’s better than we have been taught we should deserve” really stuck out for me as a road warrior. We have been trained to expect bad (and worsening) service in the frequent flyer world. Uncaring airline representatives, devaluation of frequent flyer points, additional service fees, more points to buy free nights, terrible customer service, bad airport food, more time away from home – we accept these things as “part of the job”. At one point frequent travelers felt free flights, free nights, and credit card points were the “benefits” which offset having to deal with all the crappy things about flying, but…
Is that still true anymore?
In most industries, bad customer service means you don’t last very long, but not for industries who serve frequent travelers. We are captive customers at airports and we pay more for bad food and bad service. We are limited to certain airlines by when and where we need to fly. We are limited to hotels by distance or cost to clients. We have limitations placed on our ability to choose. Then we get attached to “loyalty programs” and a currency which is controlled by folks who believe we are mindless point-addicts who only care about racking up enough miles to be treated with “ok” customer service (because a special 1-800 number is supposed to make us feel elite). We just suck it up. That is sad.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to change that? I don’t know the solution, but I bet it starts with us – the frequent travelers.
Fellow road warrior, *josh*, received the following email from Delta, introducing a new status level above the current Platinum level:
As Delta and Northwest Airlines® merge into one airline, we are committed to delivering the best-in-class loyalty program in the industry. Over the next nine months, not only will we roll out an improved SkyMiles Medallion® program that retains all of the features of the existing program, but we will also introduce new features that no other airline offers.
We heard you loud and clear and have retained all of the Medallion benefits you have asked for, and made the Systemwide Upgrade Certificates redeemable on the day of departure. As a Medallion, you will continue to be offered:
- Unlimited complimentary upgrades
- The ability to earn one elite qualifying mile per mile flown regardless of booking channel
- A 100% mileage bonus
- Preferred security access, priority boarding and seating, and waived checked baggage fees for everyone in your itinerary
- A 500-mile minimum on all flights for all customers
- No co-pays on any mileage upgrades
In addition, we will roll out new industry-leading benefits for our very best and most valuable customers like you, including:
- A new Diamond Medallion tier - for those who earn 125,000 MQMs or 140 segments in a calendar year - that will provide the richest set of benefits of any airline, including a complimentary Delta Sky Club™ membership, an industry-leading 125% mileage bonus, and waivers for all Award and baggage fees. Should you achieve the Diamond threshold during 2009, you will be recognized as a Diamond Medallion when the program launches in early 2010
- "Rollover MQMs" - an industry-first that allows you to now roll over any Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) above a Medallion threshold. For example, if you earn 150,000 MQMs this year - 25,000 MQMs higher than the Diamond Medallion requirement - those 25,000 MQMs will automatically roll over and count toward your 2010 MQM balance
- Choice Benefits - you will be able to choose from a selection of benefits to suit your needs, including new Systemwide Upgrade Certificates now redeemable on the day of departure, bonus miles, the ability to gift Medallion status and Delta Sky Club One-Day passes
- Unlimited complimentary upgrades on Award Tickets
- Waived direct ticketing charges when purchasing tickets or Award Tickets via our reservation or airport agents
This is a classic business school marketing strategy, whereby a new “premium” product is used differentiate without competing directly on price (or in this case, points). As josh noted in his email to me, it will be interesting to see if other airlines follow this strategy as this new level clearly provides benefits not available at the highest status level for other airlines.
(Complements of BillShrink)
Here’s a excellent picture illustrating the current fee structure of all major airlines based in the U.S. One airline definitely stands out (Hint: Starts with ‘South’ and ends with ‘west’):
With the economic downturn, airlines have been pretty aggressive with adding fees so this graph may not stay relevant very long.
It looks like the Clear program will close down operations due to financial difficulties. Here’s an email received by a fellow co-worker who was enrolled in the program:
Clear to Cease Operations
At 11:00 p.m. PST today, Clear will cease operations. Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.
After today, Clear lanes will be unavailable.
Sincerely,
Clear Customer Support
I never saw any Clear lanes at the airports I traveled through so I guess they never got around to pushing it out everywhere.
If you received a complimentary membership last year to FlyClear through a hotel promotion check your credit card statements as some road warriors have noted an “automatic renewal” and subsequent charge of $179 on their credit card. A fellow road warrior signed up for the FlyClear promotion through Marriott and was able to successfully cancel his membership and get a full refund by calling FlyClear.
Here are the numbers:
212.332.6397
212.332.6395
If you don’t want it or find it useful, take care of it now.
As I stepped out of my hotel room, this was on the front cover of USA Today. If you’re consistently flying out of a mid-sized airport (check the graph here for percentage declines), try scheduling a flight on your regular route a few months into the future to see if it still exists and plan accordingly. If you’re flying into an airport that typically supports a vacation destination, you should also review future flight routes. The financial fallout has had a huge impact on vacation and business flight routes even for the larger airports.
Plan now and save time in the future.
I am honestly surprised it took this long for toothpaste companies to come out with a 3 oz size, but I imagine the ridiculous margins on the “travel size” toothpaste to have something to do with it. To make a long story short, I randomly strolled into a Walmart because it happened to be the closest pharmacy near my hotel and after picking up some DayQuil/NyQuil I stopped by the travel section and found this:
I have not seen this size in any other supermarkets so perhaps its a Walmart only thing. Let’s see if it gets rolled out everywhere. If not, you know where to find it.
You know you’re a road warrior if this makes you happy. Never having to deal with ridiculous “travel size” toothpaste again is priceless.
From a recent US Airways press release:
“US Airways (NYSE:LCC) is returning complimentary beverages to the coach cabin on all US Airways and US Airways Express Flights beginning March 1st. Passengers will be offered free soda, juices, tea, water, and coffee in flight. Beer, wine, and cocktails will still be available for purchase for $7.”
You really have to wonder why US Airways would issue a press release just to highlight a service which is already provided by every other airline except theirs. Perhaps it was issued to highlight the fact their other programs have really squeezed the dollars out of the frequent flyer.
“The company still expects to generate from $400 to $500 million in 2009 from a la carte items like checked baggage fees, Choice Seats, and our new blanket and pillow offering – the US Airways Power-Nap Sack ™.”
The press release’s target audience are the investors, but were I an investor, I’d question the strategy of increasing profits by sticking it to your best customers. Seems to work well when everyone else is doing the same thing, but once the economy turns, flyers will jump ship as long as they have a choice. Frequent flyer programs no longer have the stickiness they initially started with due to the devaluation of points.
My advice to airlines - stop playing to your investors and focus on your customers. Smart investors realize customers are the ones paying the bills.
I think we can safely say (most) airlines are lacking in the customer service department. If it were a contest, I’d give Southwest first place but let’s be honest, the competition isn’t very tough. I think as travelers we’ve grown pretty used to mediocre treatment at best and assumed rude and impersonal interactions have become status quo. Josh just sent me the following email he received after been dropped into the middle although he had Gold Medallion status with Delta:
Dear Mr. Josh,
Monday’s are tough, and we’re sorry yours may have been less comfortable when you ended up stuck in the middle seat.
While we strive to give our most loyal customers our best seats, unfortunately that’s not always possible. To thank you for your flexibility and understanding, we’ve credited 500 miles to your SkyMiles® account.
It’s just one of the ways we’re expressing our appreciation for your loyalty to the SkyMiles program. And we’ll continue to take care of you—from booking to baggage claim and everywhere in between.
So thanks again. Next time, we hope to see you in First.
Josh’s comment: “Though miles aren’t worth what they used to be, it’s a smart move to recognize the opportunities where the customer experience was not optimal and do something about it.”
I agree – 500 miles aren’t very much but recognizing your best customers even if it’s the equivalence of a handshake and an apology trumps the typical experience we’re used to receiving. Keep it up, Delta.